


Fallen

by justabrain



Series: Inktober Prompts [2]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Movies)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Extended Scene, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Post-Movie: Star Trek Nemesis (2002)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-05-03 09:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14565705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justabrain/pseuds/justabrain
Summary: Geordi tries to figure out how to go on after the explosion.





	Fallen

The captain raised his wine glass. “To absent friends,” he said softly, gazing around the room. Doctor Crusher nodded slightly, and Worf remained stoic. The captain’s gaze lingered on Geordi for a moment. “To family,” he added.

Geordi tasted the wine, its bitterness paling in comparison to the bile threatening to rise in his throat. It was the first thing he had eaten since the explosion, he realized. There would be a lot of firsts now.

Counselor Troi swallowed a sob, and Riker wrapped his arm around her. Geordi examined the floor, all too aware of the lack of Data’s arm doing the same.

“The first time I saw Data,” Riker started, “he was leaning against a tree in the holodeck. Trying to whistle. Funniest thing I ever saw. No matter what he did, he couldn’t get the tune right.” He sighed. “What was that song?” Seconds passed. “I can’t remember the song…”

_Pop Goes the Weasel._ Data had told him about it the first day they had met. But now the words stuck in Geordi’s throat. He set down his glass and moved towards the window. 

That day had been another first. The first day without Data. It was almost over, and yet there was still so much more of it to get through. The captain had offered to relieve him from duty for a few days, but Geordi had insisted that he needed to help with repairs, and cleaning up, and paperwork, and there were so many things that needed to be done, there was no way he could take the day off. Which was all true. But he knew the real reason for staying busy was the same reason why he had yet to go back to their quarters, why he had asked Barclay to feed Spot for him, why he was spending as little time in Engineering as possible…

Troi placed a gentle hand on Geordi’s shoulder, and he realized that everybody else had left.

“Are you alright?”

Not trusting his voice, he shrugged.

“It will be hard.”

Geordi tried to force an ironic laugh, but instead it was almost a whimper. Wiping away a tear, she wrapped her arms around him, and he returned it.

“What now?” he whispered, taking a shaky breath.

Counselor Troi took half a step back to look him in the eye. “We remember. Him, what he did. We grieve. Process. And then we continue. We become those best parts of ourselves that he saw and believed us to be.”


End file.
